Shire still awaiting water buyback meet

A south-west New South Wales shire says its requests for meetings with ministers to talk about a proposed buyback of land and water have fallen on deaf ears.

Eleven landholders between Hay and Balranald are negotiating what could be the largest sell-off of irrigation water in the Murray-Darling Basin.

Balranald Mayor Alan Purtill says he has asked to meet the New South Wales and federal water ministers to discuss the proposal.

However, he says he is yet to get a response.

"Our concern is that if they sell the water, what's going to happen to the land - whether it will be turned into a national park or whether it will be used as dry land farming - because at the moment we're sort of in the dark," he said.